Scientists have engineered the first living microbe that can carry and pass down an expanded genetic code to future generations — one that has six base pairs instead of the usual four. It's a breakthrough that will not only allow us to build powerful new forms of life, it's also changing what we know about evolution. »5/08/14 8:00am 5/08/14 8:00am

A recent project by designer Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg proposes that bioengineered creatures be released into the wild to save endangered species and clean up pollution. And she's already designed four organisms to do it, including soil-scouring slugs and seed-dispersing porcupines. »11/13/13 12:40pm 11/13/13 12:40pm

Two decades is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but owing to accelerating change we can expect to see the emergence of some fairly disruptive technological innovations in the coming years. Here are 10 mindblowingly futuristic technologies that should appear by the 2030s. »7/05/13 10:00am 7/05/13 10:00am

There was a time when science could be broken down into neat-and-tidy disciplines — straightforward things like biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy. But as science advances, these fields are becoming increasingly specialized and interdisciplinary, leading to entirely new avenues of inquiry. Here are 11… »2/27/13 10:00am 2/27/13 10:00am

Okay, so imagine this: It's about twenty years from now and a serious pandemic hits. You're rightly terrified of leaving your house for fear of contracting the virus — but you know full well that you can't stay home forever. That's when you hit the internet and boot up your 3-D bio-printer. After downloading the… »10/17/12 2:40pm 10/17/12 2:40pm

In one of the biggest breakthroughs in recent history, scientists have created a synthetic genome that can self-replicate. So what does this mean? Are we about to become gray goo? »5/21/10 6:30am 5/21/10 6:30am